CROWN POINT | City officials said they hope to avoid using eminent domain when acquiring land this year for a future bicycle path.

Parks Director Julie Johnson said Monday the city is sending property owners notices that appraisers will begin estimating purchase offers for a 1.65-mile leg of the bike path known as the Penn-Erie Greenway.

"We will be putting the trail through, but using eminent domain is not our goal. We want to work with landowners," Johnson said.
That trail will follow an abandoned railroad south from the Erie Lackawanna trailhead at 93rd Avenue and Chase Street and curve behind Liberty Park subdivision to meet Summit Street west of Main Street.

Johnson said the railroad right of way, which was abandoned many years ago, has become part of the adjacent landowners' property and will have to be acquired by the city.

Eminent domain is the public taking of private property for fundamental government uses, including parks and recreation. The city last filed a condemnation complaint in 2005 to acquire property for a stormwater retention pond north of Summit Street between North Main Street and Merrillville Road.